"Aaj jeene ki tamanna hai"

                   

            

     

As I sat switching channels on the TV one Sunday morning, I came across an interesting show on “TIMES NOW” on the great directors of our hindi film industry and the show was dedicated to Vijay anand showcasing the super hit movie 'GUIDE' made in 1965. The song which was being discussed was "aaj jeene ki tamanna hai, aaj marne ka irada hai" sung by Lata Mangeshkar.

I was instantly taken in by the music, the pitch, the words of the song which exudes a veritable sense of pure joy and bliss experienced by the young lady 'Rosie' played by waheeda  rehman who is simply overjoyed on having rediscovered herself through her passion  for dancing, on having found true love for the first time in her life. A love she got from  ‘Raju’ played by the charismatic Dev anand who is shown as a humble guide , guiding tourists to historic sites. 

The song epitomizes liberation.   Its been rightly said that the song symbolizes freedom. Freedom for ‘Rosie’ (Waheeda rehman)  who after having spent years with an oppressive and demeaning archaeologist husband, has finally found freedom and true love. Her joy is boundless and she now doesn’t care for anyone but Raju .  She has found in him a real admirer of her talent of dancing and loves him back equally.

 It’s a delight to watch Waheeda clad in a light blue colour saree lying atop a hay stacked truck throwing straw twigs over her face, mindlessly handing over a 1000 rs note to the camel owner, sitting astride a camel swinging a tree branch in one hand, dancing dangerously on a ledge and singing with carefree abandon.

One of the line in the song goes like this : “Kal ke andhero se nikal ke, dekha hai aankhe malte malte phool hi phool jindagi bahar hai, taya kar liya aaj phir jeene tamanna hai, aaj phir marne ka irada hai” which literally means “ Rubbing my eyes,as I step from the darkness of my past into the present, I can see only flowers, life has suddenly become very beautiful, I have regained the inspiration to live again”. How very beautiful , how very true.

Apart from the amazing direction and excellent music one cannot help but admire the womanly grace of waheeda rehman.

I  came across an interesting comment on the utube which said that Amitabh Bachchan once had said “If I were to be reborn as a woman, I would like to be born as Waheeda rehman . She is full of grace and beauty” I couldn’t agree with this more.

In the song “kahin pe nigahein kahin pe nishana” of the film CID, I think of her earliest films, one gets immensely impressed by her simple but elegant movements and a face that exuded charm, innocence and freshness.

I have put the picture of sunflowers on the top as sunflowers symbolize happiness and joy.

There are so many beautiful gems of songs which the Hindi film industry has given us. Sometimes it really helps to take pause from our hectic schedules, dig into the past and relish their beauty all over again. I rediscovered one such gem on that lazy sunday morning flipping mindlessly through the channels !



Lots of love,

Meenal.

" Aati kya Velvett Country resort ? "

                                        

A beautiful lotus blooming in a pool at the resort !

Ivy covered walls of the cottages,a leisurely walk on long winding pathways, lush green lawns to lie on and stare at the deep blue skies, cool climate, chirping birds, great food by the poolside, a huge terrace surrounded by enchanting  woods where one can stroll and relax and sip tea, absolute calm and tranquility and above all spending some great quality time with your loved one. Sounds too idealistic or too good to be true ?  It may sound like that but in fact one can get it all just 2 hours drive from Pune. And guess where ? In apna very own Khandala , at the Velvett Country resort.

 After doing a lot of research on where should we go, we finally decided on the “Velvett country resort” and thankfully it turned out to be a wise decision. Although it’s a little difficult to reach the resort from the main highway but once you get there, you would get charmed by the surrounding beauty and the tranquility.

We reached late in the night and were given a warm welcome. Having sent our bags to our room, we headed straight towards the poolside to have dinner. Food was great.  We were then led to our room and I instantly fell in love with it as it was large and spacious which had an equally large adjoining terrace having relaxing chairs and a tea table.

We spent one evening exploring the surroundings which led us to the beautifully maintained garden situated at a height. We treaded the steps cut out on a hill which gave it a look of a terrace garden.  On the top there was a large open space covered with lush green grass surrounded by hedges. It felt amazing to stroll on the cool grass bare footed, relax and feel the cool gentle breeze, stare at the sky, look at the clouds, watch the birds fly by, look at the gentle swaying of the large trees and all this without any crowd of people around.

The breakfast used to be very filling. I noticed the thoughtful manner in which the dining area was designed. There were comfortable wooden chairs with an off white nylon mesh at the back. It reminded me of my childhood days when we used to have such chairs. It was a ritual to call the mesh weaving man every year who would weave the mesh into the chairs with long nylon ropes/strings. One doesn’t get to see such chairs nowadays.  The dining area had large windows which made the room airy and filled it with ample sunlight.

I was struck by the dark green ivy which had almost completely covered the entire walls of the cottages. Apart from acting as a thermal shield, ivy is so effective in making the buildings awesomely green! I got  photographs of us clicked from the room service boys as we stood against the green ivy covered walls.

We played table tennis one evening.  I hadn’t played it since a long long time. It was fun. We once hit the ball so far that it landed into the swimming pool at the back. Thankfully our game didn’t stop as we had another ball to play with!

The reception area was decorated with beautiful abstract oil paintings of the Gods Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu. Upon enquiry we learnt that the paintings were made by the resort owner’s son. A large copper vessel filled with water which had marigold flowers floating on the top gave the entrance a serene and soothing effect. The staff was warm and the room service was prompt.

But what got etched into my memory were the lovely moments spent on the huge terrace having the “forest view” (their website mentions about 3 views: mountain view, forest view and garden view. We had the forest view! )sitting on the relaxing chairs sipping hot tea and admiring the various birds perched on the swaying branches of the trees. It was a perfect setting to have some relaxing conversation and to truly unwind myself. It was amazing.

We checked out of the resort after having spent 3 wonderful days.  We carried with us some really lovely and sweet memories of time spent together in such peaceful and lovely surroundings in the lap of nature.  It was truly rejuvenating to go away from the maddening crowd and chaos of the city,the daily grind of life.

For me now ,if anyone makes a mention of khandala, my mind would instantly think of Velvett country resort instead of the superhit amir khan song  “Aati kya Khandala?” !!!

lots of love ,

Meenal